Owen Wilson Will Stage ‘The Coup’ With the Dowdle Brothers

Taking a decidedly dark turn in project choices after the success of the uber-charming Midnight in Paris and his recently-signed deals for comedies like Freezing People Is Easy and You Are Here, actor Owen Wilson will soon star in the Dowdle Brothers’ The Coup. A dark thriller from the team at Crime Scene Pictures, The Coup appears to be Wilson’s most emotionally demanding role in years, since something like 2001’s Behind Enemy Lines. The press release announcing the project describes the film as “an intense thriller centered on an American family that moves to Southeast Asia and finds themselves embroiled in a violent coup where rebels mercilessly attack the city.” Wilson will play the family’s patriarch.

John Erick Dowdle will direct the film from a script he co-wrote with his brother, Drew Dowdle. John Erick previously directed Devil, and the brothers wrote The Poughkeepsie Tapes and Quarantine together, with John Erick also directing those features.

Filming on the project begins October in Southeast Asia. The film’s international rights will be up for grabs at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Crime Scene Pictures is also behind David Gordon Green’s Suspiria remake and Joe Lynch’s Everly. Next up for the company is the Coen Brothers-penned Gambit remake.